Pharmaceutical companies often sell items, such as prescription drugs, to several different stores, such as pharmacies or prescription drug wholesalers, which then sell these items to customers/end users through selected channels. For example, some sales of the items to the customer may occur through the Internet, and some sales of the items to the customer may occur at the store. Such stores may be located in different territories, cities, or counties. For example, when the stores are located in Canada, sales of the items to U.S. customers may occur substantially or entirely through the Internet, and sales of the items to Canadian customers may occur substantially or entirely at the stores.
Nevertheless, after the pharmaceutical companies sell the items to the stores, the pharmaceutical companies may not be able to determine the percentage of the items which the consumers purchase from the stores through the Internet, and/or the percentage of the items which the consumers purchase at the stores. Such information may assist the pharmaceutical companies in determining where to store their inventory, and/or projecting future sales. Therefore, a need has arisen for a technique for estimating sales of items which overcome these and other shortcomings of the related art.